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Policing around here is total cop out
• MIKE Katz is right about Lib Dems having failed to address police issues in Haverstock Ward since they were put into power in May 2006 (Marauding gangs rule in lawless Haverstock, May 24).
Haverstock ward used to feel safer when only one dedicated police officer was assigned to it under to the old Sector team. We all knew our Sector officers and they certainly knew us.
More importantly, they knew who the bad guys were so they could act quickly when trouble arose. Now we are supposed to have a dedicated sergeant, twice as many police constables and a number of PCSOs assigned to each ward under the Safer Neighbourhood scheme, yet we hardly ever see any on the street. When we do, they don’t know anyone and seem powerless to assist.
This, it would seem, points to a management problem and a lack of motivation on the part of the police force rather than a shortage of staff.
The anti-social problems in Haverstock occur, not surprisingly, in the evenings and at night and on weekends. But the new Safer Neighbourhood team only works from 9am-5pm on weekdays. What insanity is that? Calling 999, as everyone now knows, is unreliable.
They sometimes take hours to show up (if at all), by which time the criminals have already done their worst and gone home.
Living in Malden Road, Denton Estate and surrounding areas is hell on earth.
Lib Dem do churn out leaflets about the lack of police in Haverstock, but they aren’t practical in their approach.
One of their failed contenders at the last local election has been the chair of the Safer Neighbourhood Citizen Panel in Haverstock for over a year.
He and his local police force managed to accomplish absolutely nothing whatsoever during the time. No security for the residents and businesses of the Malden/Denton area or Queen’s Crescent exists.
We have never before experienced such disorder and insecurity.
Never mind a whole police team, I would settle for one identifiable, effective, motivated, dedicated and empowered real police officer who we could call on when there is serious trouble and who could help and follow ‘things’ through.
BEV SILVERSTEIN
Malden Road, NW5
• ODD that Commander Mark Heath claims that the Safer Neighbourhood team is too busy answering the phone and emails to patrol the streets (Wanted: police volunteers, May 24).
Our experience locally is that no one ever directly answers the Safer Neighbourhood lines, which is why so many crimes go unreported.
Meanwhile, the Met issues statements about crime having been reduced in Camden since the Safer Neighbourhood scheme was introduced. If anything, crime, for many, has escalated beyond hope.
Local residents, especially those in Haverstock ward, have simply given up reporting crime, largely because of the difficulty of doing so.
Furthermore, it seems odd to seek lay volunteers to assist the police when lay people experience exclusion from Safer Neighbourhood meetings.
S T SCOTT
Harmood Street, NW1
• I THINK I have the perfect solution, at least in neglected and unmanaged Haverstock ward, to ineffective police force.
The people of Haverstock should be allocated the funds now spent on the ward for the Safer Neighbourhood scheme to employ and manage their own police force.
Many residents who are retired business people and who have the qualification and experience in management could provide a useful service.
For this, they would have to be given a free hand so that the funds allocated be spent wisely and efficiently.
Why not give it a try since nothing else seems to have worked?
We couldn’t do worse than the present set-up that cries out for volunteers.
D V FELIX
Southampton Road, NW5
• I READ with dismay the plea from borough commander Mark Heath for civilians to come forward and volunteer to do the secretarial work on behalf of our local police force to allow them to patrol our streets.
May I make a practical suggestion?
Much as I like the look of PCSOs, it is now well known among the general public and criminals alike that they have neither the training nor the power to tackle crime on the street.
Therefore, might it be a sensible idea to get rid of one PCSO per ward and use the money they make (which I am told is quite substantial) to employ a full-time personal assistant?
And what about the two real police officers per ward we are supposed to have assigned to us?
Are they, too, doing secretarial work while criminals in Haverstock ward have a field day?
Perhaps they are being deployed elsewhere when they are meant to mind the local shop.
MILDRED THOMAS
Denning Road, NW3
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